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Lance Hornby is not reviewing Magic Of The 2012-13 Lockout on this year’s QMI Agency Christmas hockey book list. Not when authors Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr have been on Santa’s naughty list. But in this dark NHL season, a talented lineup of writers have been working like elves to fill the void. This has to be the largest batch of hockey books Hornby can remember in one Yuletide:

HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA: 60 SEASONS

By: Michael McKinley

Penguin, 318 pages, $39.00

Conveys everything that makes Saturday special, with plenty of classic photos and great bio and sidebars on Gallivan to Grapes. You can almost hear the old HNIC theme as you turn the pages.

THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE

By: Jamie McLennan and Ian Mendes

Wiley, 238 pages, $24.95

McLennan has a different spin on things, well, because he’s a goalie, but who also survived a brush with death from meningitis at the peak of his career.

He recovered to play another 10 years on three continents, then became a coach and TV commentator. The self-titled Forrest Gump of the NHL shares his unusual stories, from stealing a cab in Montreal, getting one-upped by a mascot in his crease and accidentally assaulting a senior citizen.

SUDDEN DEATH

By: Leesa Culp, Gregg Drinnan and Bob Wilkie

Dundurn, 207 pages, $25.99

The tragic bus crash that killed four rising Swift Current hockey players, including the brother of Sabres’ coach Lindy Ruff, did not end in 1986.

Those who survived bear scars to this day trying to move on. Three in particular, coach Graham James and players Sheldon Kennedy and Joe Sakic went down very different paths. Co-author Wilkie was one of the 22 survivors.

CROSSING THE LINE

By: Derek Sanderson and Kevin Shea

Harper Collins, $25.95

‘Turk’ Sanderson was hockey’s first modern train wreck, but until now, few realized how bad off he was and managed to crawl away.

He has the good fortune to look back on the wild 1970s and laugh about it.

STRAIGHT SHOOTER:THE BRAD PARK STORY

By: Thom Sears and Brad Park

Wiley, 300 pages, $27.95

He came after Bobby Orr in Boston, before Brian Leetch in New York and coached Detroit just prior to it turning the corner to Cup contention.

So Park’s place in the game, particularly his impact as an offensive defenceman, is sometimes overlooked. He played 10 seasons with 50 or more points, sits 12th in career assists by defencemen and saved his best games for Moscow with Team Canada ‘72. Sears gives Park his due and lets him rap about his junior days with the Toronto Marlies, being on both sides of the bitter Bruins-Rangers rivalry and the pitfalls of NHL coaching.

J.R.

By: Jeremy Roenick and Kevin Allen

Harper Collins, 320 pages,$32.99

Jeremy Roenick is well on his way to becoming the American Don Cherry.

CONCUSSED!

By: Keith Primeau and Kerry Goulet

Overtime, 255 pages, $19.95

Head injuries can no longer be swept under the carpet — in any sport. Rugged NHLer Primeau and Canadian-born German Leaguer Goulet have crusaded for this cause. They relate their own injuries and through dialogue with experts, provide a template to players a present and future on safeguarding and treating concussion-related trauma.

NEXT GOAL WINS

By: Liam Maguire

Random House, 198 pages, $22.95

Because some of us have a curved stick where our brains should be, we enjoy Maguire’s bend on hockey trivia. In his latest collection, we discover 84 was the last NHL number to be activated, that only three players drafted first overall never played an NHL game and the 70 correlations to Bobby Orr and the No. 4 that were triggered by his 1970 Cup-winning goal.

THE WINGED WHEEL

By: Rob Simpson

Wiley, 234 pages, $34.95

A must for Wing-nuts. This coffee table book of photos details all things Wings from when the Detroit Olympia rocked,when Gordie and Terrible Ted were in their prime, up to Yzerman, Lidstrom and the return to glory of four Stanley Cups.

TALES FROM THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS/MONTREAL CANADIENS LOCKER ROOM

By: David Shoalts and Robert S. Lefebvre

Sports Publishing, 178/191 pages, $19.95

Both are updated versions of off-beat episodes from the NHL’s two oldest teams. The Habs have the richer history from which to pluck stories, but the most entertaining is the Leafs, especially their rogues’ gallery of players and the foibles in the Harold Ballard years. Shoalts has added some Brian Burke-Ron Wilson anecdotes.

THE GREAT ONE: THE COMPLETE WAYNE GRETZKY COLLECTION

By: Sports Illustrated

McLelland and Stewart, 336 pages, $24.99

The respected sports mag, often ripped for its lack of hockey coverage, could not get enough of the Great One in his prime. Their top writers profiled Gretzky starting in his teen years, made him a cover boy and Sportsman Of The Year.

In 1985, when the idea of a 300-point season was being raised, Gretzky told S.I.’s E.M. Swift he was at his peak and would likely last another seven to 10 years. Though No. 99 stayed until 1999, fans looking for a touchstone player today will read this and wish he had played longer.

THE GOAL OF MY LIFE

By: Paul Henderson and Roger Lajoie

McLelland and Stewart, 344 pages, $32.99

Henderson’s 40-year reflection of The Goal, his battle with life-threatening illness and how he and a hockey-loving country dealt with adversity, then and now.

1972 — STATS, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE

By: Richard Bendell, Paul Patskou and Robert MacAskill

Self published, 428 pages, $29.72

Not quite your warm and fuzzy memory of ’72, with former chartered accountant Bendell taking some new and blunt angles on the series and de-bunking some misconceptions. The team of authors, which include a film researcher, movie director and puckhead stats experts, break down all eight games with plenty of numbers and some long-forgotten quotes from commentators from both sides. If that series was war, this lengthy tome is War and Peace.

RED RISING, THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS STORY

By: Ted Starkey

ECW Press, 253 pages, $17.95

Are the Caps the best team never to win the Cup? This neatly details how Washington built its contender, but the unfinshed chapter will be how new coach Adam Oates co-exists with Alex Ovechkin.

JAMES T. SUTHERLAND, THE GRAND OLD MAN OF HOCKEY

By: Bill Fitsell

Quarry Heritage, 204 pages, $29.95

We know Kingston’s claim to fame as the cradle of hockey and that Fitsell deserves the gratitude of all fans on behalf of his projects for the Society for International Hockey Research. Here, he profiles war officer Sutherland and his quest to see Kingston get proper credit, culminating with establishing the International Hockey Hall Of Fame.

A WILD STAB FOR IT

By: Dave Bidini

ECW Press, 109 pages, $19.95

Bidini was like a lot of us who watched the ’72 series in a grade school gym. But he somehow transports himself to Moscow for a wonderful take on the people in and around Game 8. A book that fits in the palm of your hockey glove covers a lot of ice, with Bidini’s own hockey travels woven in.

A SEASON IN TIME

By: Todd Denault

Wiley, 379 pages, $32.95

One season rarely holds fan interest from training camp through the Cup presentation and resonates in memory banks 20 years on.

But 1992-93 was end to end rushes, featuring Mario Lemieux, the Montreal Canadiens’ overtime magic, Wayne Gretzky at his zenith in L.A. and of course the joyful revival of the Maple Leafs through Cliff Fletcher, Pat Burns and Doug Gilmour.

It was the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup and yielded 1,000 storylines, capped by a compelling playoff.

Denault gives an excellent 20-year retrospective on the players, coaches and executives who made it so special, before rampant expansion and the first of three lockouts began ruining the fan experience.

Toronto fans, still bitter about missing the Habs in the final, have to agree it was a hell of a year.

COACH, THE PAT BURNS STORY

By: Rosie DiManno

Doubleday, 336 pages, $32.95

Burns is not yet in the Hall Of Fame, but he’s still in the hearts of players and fans.

DiManno delves into the conflicted life of the coach, who began as a policeman/ detective who pinned the murder of a priest on a young man Burns once coached in minor hockey.

Behind the bench, Burns was a good fit for the lion taming role in Canada’s two most diverse hockey cultures in Montreal and Toronto. But there were lots of turmoil and personal sacrifice on the road to an eventual Stanley Cup before his premature passing.

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The book on Christmas hockey reads

Lance Hornby is not reviewing Magic Of The 2012-13 Lockout on this year’s Sun Media Christmas hockey book list. Not when authors Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr have been on Santa’s naughty list. But in this dark NHL season, a talented lineup of writers have been working like elves to fill the void. This has to be the largest batch of hockey books Hornby can remember in one Yuletide:

HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA: 60 SEASONS

Michael McKinley

Penguin, 318 pages, $39.00

Conveys everything that makes Saturday special, with plenty of classic photos and great bio and sidebars on Gallivan to Grapes. You can almost hear the old HNIC theme as you turn the pages.

THE BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE

Jamie McLennan and Ian Mendes

Wiley, 238 pages, $24.95

McLennan has a different spin on things, well, because he’s a goalie, but who also survived a brush with death from meningitis at the peak of his career.